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“The vocal support Iceland has received since announcing our intention to eradicate plastic packaging has shown us that there is a huge public will to tackle the scourge of plastics,” said Iceland’s managing director, Richard Walker.

“There are 12 million tonnes of plastic entering our oceans every year, so we feel a responsibility both to tackle the issue of plastic packaging, as we are doing with our own label products, and to give our customers the power to make a difference themselves,” he said.

Hugo Tagholm, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, a campaign group that successfully lobbied the UK parliament to pledge to ditch single-use plastics, said the reverse vending machine would “put the power in customers’ hands to say no to plastic pollution.”

He added that it would “incentivise them to participate in the proven solutions for a plastic-free ocean.”

The Co-op has also announced that it will be using a reverse vending machine this summer, at festivals including Download, Latitude, and Reading and Leeds.

The nationwide scheme would likely involve customers paying a small amount extra when they buy their drinks, which would then be paid back when they return the containers for recycling. It would then be businesses’ responsibility to ensure the bottles are effectively recycled.

Announcing the plan, environment secretary Michael Gove said: “It is absolutely vital we act now to tackle this threat and curb the millions of plastic bottles a day that go unrecycled.”

Author Bill Bryson, a former president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said at the time that “future generations will look back on this decision as a piece of supremely enlightened policymaking, and one that raises the prospect of the world’s most beautiful country becoming free from drinks container litter at last.”

If the UK did bring in a nationwide deposit return scheme, it would bring it in line with European countries like Norway, Germany, Sweden, and Croatia. And with 10 US states, eight Canadian provinces, and Southern Australia, according to Huffington Post.

It varies slightly from country to country, with shoppers in Sweden paying a deposit of 8p, for example, while in Germany they pay 22p.

And other countries have already found it to be extremely effective. In Germany, it’s helped achieve a 97% recycling rate, while in Lithuania it achieved a 93% return rate in just three years.

Global Citizen campaigns to achieve the UN’s Global Goals, which include action on improving life on land and life below water, and on creating sustainable cities and communities. You can join us by taking action on these issues here.